While the political spotlight will undoubtedly be fixed on the House justice committee — which, as previewed in iPolitics AM, is set to hold a potentially critical session on the opposition-backed push to bring former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould back for a second round of testimony — New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh is set to hit the stage at the National Press Theatre to outline his party’s priorities for the upcoming federal budget, which will be tabled next Tuesday.

According to the advisory, Singh, who will appear alongside New Democrat finance critic Peter Julian, will explain how the government “can make life more affordable for Canadians,” which will, presumably, include highlighting key elements of his now-standard pre-campaign stump speech, including the party’s pitch for universal pharmacare and increased federal support for affordable housing.

Elsewhere in the precinct, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation hosts its annual Teddy Awards — which, as the notice explains, recognize particularly egregious examples of waste at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, as well as a “lifetime achievement.”

Serving as master-of-ceremonies will be the organization’s federal director, Aaron Wudrick, who, as per CTF tradition, “will be joined by Porky the Waste Hater (the CTF’s tuxedo-wearing pig mascot)and our charming and talented awards hostess Lindsay” for the ceremony, which, as per the itinerary, “will run approximately 15 minutes.”

Also on the Hill agenda today: The Parliamentary Budget Office release an “infrastructure update” focused on provincial and municipal investments, which will use the latest data to “identify the incremental impact of federal infrastructure funding on provincial and municipal capital investment.”

OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT

As part of an ongoing bid to promote her government’s efforts to boost “impactful health research,” Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor tours the cancer research labs at Sherbrooke University to “highlight” current projects that “have the potential to make a difference in the lives of Canadians.”

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau continues her inaugural ministerial tour in Winnipeg, where she’ll visit the Canadian International Grains Institute.

Moving still further west, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale delivers a fresh tranche of federal cash earmarked for “climate action” to the University of Saskatchewan, while Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen drops by a French-language cultural centre in Calgary to tout his government’s support for “Francophone minority communities across Canada, and Infrastructure Minister François-Philippe Champagne tours various projects in Southern Alberta.

Finally, Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi holds a virtual tele-briefing from the CERAWeek Energy Conference in Houston, where he’s spent the last two days making the rounds on the trade floor, as well as meeting with international counterparts and industry leaders.

AT COMMITTEE

Regular committee meetings will resume when the House and Senate re-open for business on March 18, 2019.